


of words and actions

by ignitesthestars



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Enemies to Something, F/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 20:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5470523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignitesthestars/pseuds/ignitesthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kylo Ren apologizes to Rey. She is having none of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of words and actions

“Go suck on a blaster bolt.”

They stand in the middle of a forest on Yavin 4 - and doesn’t it always seems to be forests with them? The blue glow of her lightsaber lights up both of their faces, although his remains inscrutable, even without the mask. His hands are empty. Not that that means anything.

“This is about the torture,” he says finally.

She just about chokes. She just about chokes  _him_. “To  _start_. You’ve killed people. You killed your own father!”

A flicker of emotion, a spasm. It cuts across his face like the mark her lightsaber left, and she should have sliced deeper.

“He was  _my_ father.” The surface of his voice remains steady, but restrained. The Force roils around him - leashed, but only just. “Unfortunately.”

It takes every ounce of willpower in her not to just launch herself at him. But Rey is learning, too. If he breaks her, he wins. If she gives in to the anger that rises up in her chest when she looks at him,  _Snoke_  wins. 

She doesn’t swallow it down. She lets it run through her - and accepts it. He makes her angry. He makes her want to  _hurt_ , in a way no other thing in the galaxy has ever made her feel. But she has learnt, from Luke and from Leia and from her own friends supporting her, and facing their own demons. To feel those things is human. Her voice trembles when she speaks, but the Force remains calm around her.

“So because he was your father, you get to take him from everyone else? He meant more to people than just you. Your _mother_ , for one–”

“Don’t speak to me of my mother!”

“She misses you.”

He flinches then. Rey wonders why he keeps taking off his mask, when his face is such an open book. He has the means to remain terrifying and intimidating at his hands, but every time she sees him, she can look him directly in the eyes.

“Words don’t mean anything,” she says softly. “There’s no way you can word an apology to make up for what you’ve done. It’s actions that matter, Ben.”

“There’s nothing I can  _do_  to make up for what I’ve done,” he spits, and there’s real panic in the words, real despair. It feeds into that thrashing darkness around him, multiplying. “I don’t need to make up for it! I did what was necessary.”

Her own temper flares. She is, after all, still learning. “Then why are you  _here?_ Why would you try to apologise to me?”

He says nothing. But she can see it on his face.

He doesn’t know.


End file.
